The government, through its policies, "acts as an accelerator of the crises and is doing the same now with the shortages of medicines," the head of communications strategy for main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, Nasos Iliopoulos, said in statements to the radio station "Sto Kokkino 105.5 FM" on Thursday. He accused the government of failing to take steps to control exports of pharmaceuticals, including from the state pharmaceuticals warehouse.
Now, he added, the health minister was blaming doctors for writing out too many prescriptions, parents for stocking up on medicines, China and India and even the main opposition, anyone but the government.
Iliopoulos said that measures to deal with the shortage of medicines were imperative and that for as long as Health Minister Thanos Plevris failed to take them, "he proves his guilt". Among others, he called for a ban of parallel exports, real-time control of warehouses and steps to allow strategic reserves to be built up.
He also blamed the government for the poor state of the state health system and the cases of the ruling party MPs involved in scandals involving public funds "at a time when people cannot make it through the month".